Getting a good hosting company will save you a lot of headache. I say this from experience. As a web and graphics designer of 8 years, I have managed hundreds of websites with different hosting companies. Some of the websites I designed use WordPress platform while others custom content management system (CMS). Does it really matter what platform you use? Yes!
Hosting WordPress Sites
WordPress site needs more attention than a custom made CMS, every image has to be compressed, you need to flush the cache and deactivate plugins you don’t need. On top of that, you have to make sure the hosting package can handle WordPress. Fortunately, most hosting companies have a tailored package just for that.
I highly recommend you use Pingdom tools to test your site’s speed, monitor uptime and performance.
Throughout my web development career, I have had the unfortunate experience of back and forth communication with hosting admins. I can proudly say that I have found the key features that you need to look out for when purchasing a hosting space. With this, you will save time.
Important Features
Bandwidth:
Bandwidth is the maximum amount of data and level of traffic that can be transferred between your site, users and internet. This is measured in seconds. If your website has a lot of traffic, you will have to purchase a higher hosting package otherwise your users will get an error when loading your website.
Disk Space:
This is where all your web pages, images, files, emails and databases are saved. Knowing how much disk space a hosting company is offering is very important, especially, if your run a multimedia website.
Inodes:
An inode is a data structure used to store file information like size, owner etc. The hosting companies I used allocated between 100-250k inodes. Of all the features, this is the most frustrating if not monitored. Most hosting companies will suspend your account if you surpass the allocated size, make sure to read their policy carefully before purchasing one of their packages.
Remember, everytime a file on the server is opened, the file’s inode is read by the kernel. Make sure to delete redundant files and folders, clear old and spam emails and clear the cache file. This is just a tip on how to decrease inode usage.
CPU Usage:
If you are using the WordPress platform, the hosting company most definitely is monitoring you. This is because of plugins, some WordPress themes use plugins that require more RAM and Processing power to work.
High CPU usage is a very common issue when it comes to shared hosting, most of the time the hosting company will recommend a higher package.
I/O Usage
